1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to child-proof safety caps or closure devices for medicine bottles.
2. Summary of the Prior Art
The design of child-proof safety caps for medicine and pill bottles is a difficult matter. The problem is that many caps which are difficult for a child to open prove to be equally difficult for an adult to open. Furthermore, even many otherwise effective safety caps present difficulties for arthritic or infirm older adults, who may have visual or manipulative problems. For example, certain caps currently in use can be removed only with simultaneous downward pressure and rotation. Such simultaneous action is difficult for the arthritic adult with limited and painful finger movement. It may easily be possible for such a person to oppose two fingers to grasp the cap for rotation; however, grasping the cap and exerting simultaneous downward pressure is very difficult.
Other caps currently in use, such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,812,989, although simpler and easier for an infirm adult to use, still present some difficulties for an older, arthritic adult. These caps can be removed only by rotating the cap to a position where a lug positioned on the interior of the cap is in registry with a gap in a locking rib on the bottle neck so that the cap can be removed by snapping it off upwardly. Properly rotating the cap for removal requires close visual or tactile alignment of a portion of the cap with a portion of the bottle neck; this tends to be difficult for older adults with poor eyesight or poor manipulative abilities. Occasionally, too, removal of the cap requires a fair amount of pressure exerted on a small area of the cap which may be manageable only with difficulty by an infirm adult.
It is known and disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,924,242 and 1,650,517 to use a closure device which includes a retaining ring surrounding a container in conjunction with a screw-type cap and at least one band attached between the cap and the ring. However, such devices are not intended to be child-proof; the cap is easily removed from the container and the retaining ring and strap merely hold the removed cap adjacent to the container to prevent loss of the cap.